May 17 (UPI) — Film and television actor Dabney Coleman died Thursday at age 92. The Hollywood Reporter and TMZ confirmed the news with his daughter, Quincy Coleman, on Friday.
Coleman began his television career in the ’60s. He was a regular on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman for two seasons. He would return to television with The Slap Maxwell Story, Drexel’s Class, The Guardian and more. He won an Emmy for the TV movie Sworn to Silence.
Coleman became a memorable staple of ’80s movies as the sexist boss in 9 to 5, Jane Fonda‘s fiance in On Golden Pond, another sexist soap opera director in Tootsie, a NORAD engineer in WarGames and a dual role as a dad and his son’s imaginary hero in Cloak & Dagger.
Celebrities celebrated Coleman’s ability to blend into roles as a character actor. Ben Stiller tweeted, “He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him.”
So well known was Coleman that Seinfeld cast him in a fictional movie the gang goes to see. Coleman never appeared on Seinfeld but was said to be the star of the movie Sack Lunch. Coleman played himself on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.
Film critic Richard Roeper tweeted, “Dabney Coleman had the perfect character actor name, the best character actor mustache, the classic character actor chops.”
This century’s TV continued to cast Coleman in recurring roles on Boardwalk Empire and single appearances on Ray Donovan, NCIS and For the People. Coleman’s most recent credit was on Yellowstone playing John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) father.
